Run-Run, Rebel
by WomanOfWar
Summary: When Kait and Marcus leave the gilded prison of New Ephyra to search for survivors of her devastated village, they encounter enemy-but not the kind they had anticipated.
1. Chapter 1

Hey ya'll just a heads up this is my first fanfiction, and it's events following gears four where Kait and Marcus strike out to go search and save survivors. This is my take on what happens, I know they already have a book out that tells you what really happened but I wanted to change it up a bit. This story will go into Kait's past (my version of it), and the Outer Wilds of Sera. Hope you enjoy!

...

Kait sat at the edge of her bed. Her knee bouncing impatiently.

Her shirt was soaked with sweat, the cold kind, the one that made you freeze and fill with dread at the same time. She looked at the holographic display of the time, seven hours till dawn, and looked back down at her shaking hands, releasing a shuddered sigh. Damn, first night to sleep comfortably since the discovery of the Swarm and she was waking up from nightmares. Mostly monsters and creepy zombie-like humans, or the people from her village to be more specific, chasing her with fast, twitching movements. She shuddered and curled her long fingers into a fist, digging her nails into her palms and then uncurled them. Fear. Cold, dark fear. She didn't want to curl up into a ball and hide though. She wanted shout, scream, and saw those damned Swarm in half, she knew it would make her feel better. But instead she stood up and walked toward the bathroom in the back corner of the wide room. The automatic metal doors slid back and a light glow filled the space before her. Kait blinked a few times and walked over to the sink, commanding it on. Splashing cold water on her face Kait dragged her fingers down her cheeks and looked at the corpse she had become.

Below her dark bangs was somewhat bloodshot eyes and dark circles that could be mistaken as smudged eye shadow. Her skin was pale compared to its normal color and even the light freckling that dotted her nose and cheeks were pale, too. She shifted and walked out of the room, the bathroom doors sliding shut behind her, she made her way over to the curtains in front of her window and pulled them open slightly. Baird's lawn had been landscaped: trees, bushes, flowers, etc. And beyond that, a two-story wall crawling with ivy. Kait let the curtain fall back, silently scoffing, the COG's idea of "landscape," was absolute rubbish. She instead crossed the room to her dresser and dug through the drawers, looking for something to wear. She settled with really dark gray pants- almost black-, a long sleeve gray undershirt and a maroon one to go over that. When she put them on, the hems of both shirts lined up perfectly as though they were one. She pulled on a pair of black lace-ups that went halfway up her shins, they were pretty but they weren't her other pair of boots. Those had a lot of history behind them.

She pulled her braid back over her left shoulder, smiling sadly when she touched it. It was a sign of marital status. On the left shoulder it proved she was single, on the right it would mean she was married. She remembered her mother braiding it in private because Kait had been nervous, after all, being the daughter of the leader was a bit nerve racking in her twelve year old mind. She shook her head and pushed the thought to the back of her brain, leaving the room. The hallway was dark, and empty, no lights crept out from under any doors so she continued walking. Slowly after a few turns she found the kitchen a wide frame and yellow light flooded into the hall. She didn't hear anyone but still peeked around the corner.

Baird. Marcus. Sam.

Kait drew back into the hallway and relaxed before walking in. They all looked up from where they sat at the long table across the room, she could see their faces clearly over the marble counter that ran halfway across the kitchen. Kait tried to smile, but couldn't, as she walked towards them. Sam gave her a sympathetic look, her graying hair had been pulled into a low knot, something Kait thought she should try someday.

"Hello, deary." Sam said patting the empty seat next to her. Kait sat down. Marcus was across from her and Baird was across from Sam. "You're up late, can't sleep?" She inquired. Kait nodded.

"Something like that."

"You look . . ." Baird appeared as though he were looking for the right word, then gave up, "like shit." Sam shot him a glare but all Kait did was shrug it didn't surprise her at all, even she thought that. But Marcus started talking.

"Says the one who's bald, wears goggles, and sells killer robots to psychopaths." They reached for the cup in front of him and drank deeply. Kait smiled weakly.

"First sight of human life from Diaz. And with a body like this, who needs hair, they were not goggles, and Jinn did the whole "killer DeeBee thing" not me." Baird corrected in a voice that beat JD's smart-ass tone. Maybe that's where he got it from. Marcus rolled his eyes and turned to Baird, as if to say, "You sure about that?"

"Are JD and Del back yet?" Kait asked as Sam got up to got to the actual kitchen part of the room. Marcus went cold, a dark look flashing in his eyes, Sam shuffled through one of the cabinets and Baird shook his head. "Oh. . ."

"They are still at the palace, don't know what Jinn wants with them or why she's taking so long, possibly has them waiting somewhere." Baird said with a shrug scratching at his cheek. "Why?"

"Just curious, they are the only friends I've got now, soooooo, I kinda should worry." Kait said leaning back in the chair. "And besides, someone has to keep those two out of trouble." That much was true, Del not so much, but JD had a tendency to mouth off and get punched in return.

"Oh, um, I thought it was something else." Baird looked awkward for a second, Kait raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"What?"

"Well-uh, I thought-" Baird started to reply but was cut off by Sam. Who set a mug of what appeared to be coffee in front of Kait.

"Kait, drink that please," Sam pointed a finger at the mug and sat down again, watching. Baird looked at her and mouthed something, but Sam kicked his shin under the table.

"What is this? Sedatives in coffee?" Kait pushed the cup away from her, Marcus grabbed it a picked it up peering at the brown liquid, and shook his head. Kait listened to him explain is was a type of caffeinated drink, not coffee, but close. It boosted energy and helped reduce the swelling and shrink dilated blood vessels under the eyes, helping with the dark circles, and still made you feel full of energy and ready to go.

"COG came out with it a while ago," Baird said," should improve your face, you look like-"

"-shit." Kait finished. "To be honest though it feels like a couple shots of tequila and an ass-kicking."

"Wondering how you know that." Marcus noted scratching at the stubble on his cheek, grinning. Kait shrugged, better not tell that story. Sam sighed, getting up. She declared she was going to bed, and walked off. Kait could hear her footsteps recede down the hallway and looked back at the two veterans in front of her. Baird sighed and smiled.

"Good, I've got something to show you two, follow me."

...

Baird's lab was huge and was its own wing of his mansion, part of it resting on four marble pillars supporting a landing pad for Ravens, the rest was just part of the mansion branched off. Although Kait had seen COG technology before, the amount of holographs and computers and well just high-tech everything made her stop. Although instead of stopping they walked into a glass tube and shot up three floors to the top level. There was a big glass dome over their heads that went from the floor up. She saw stars and mountains, and a couple of birds that were still out. Baird kept going though, large metal doors sliding back to reveal an office, a chair, and several screens. "I would still display it out there, but I guarantee Jinn's got Watchers out right now, not gonna risk it. Now here is some footage that one of _my _Watchers found earlier tonight."

Baird pressed a button on the console and a video popped up. It was Fort Umson. Her village. Her home. A destruction, buildings destroyed and dead creatures sprawled in the mud. One was the charred remains of a Juvie. Then at the corner of the screen she saw to faces. She couldn't make out exact details but she saw they were identical in shape, one a girl, the other a boy.

"Piss off, bucketheads!" Adolescent voice.

It hit Kait then. Same face, adolescent voice . . . twins.

Then static, awful, booming static and the sound of trees breaking, crashing through the woods, fast. Then guttural chirps and gurgles. Then a shadow broke the tree line and the Watcher died.

...

_An hour earlier. . ._

Del looked at JD then back at the paper Jinn had handed them.

"So full pardons and all, but _why?"_ Del asked, eyeing Jinn suspiciously. "Can we at least get some time to think about it, a full night's sleep?Coffee?" Del sat back and watched as Jinn shook her head.

"I'm afraid I need you to decide now. I'll give a few minutes, I'll be outside the door if you need me." Jinn said standing up. JD snorted. _Uh-oh, he's about to say something stupid._

"I doubt that." Jinn glared at the ex-lieutenant and walked out of the room. Del turned to him and started to speak, but JD held up a hand. "I know, I know. She wants us back in for some unknown reason, but we can't just automatically say no."

"Because if we leave Jinn to fight the Swarm on her own she won't know how." Del nodded." I understand that, but she doesn't believe us, at least I don't think so, she won't know the Swarm is here till they're knocking on the gates of New Ephyra."

"Exactly why we can't not join back, look I don't want to as much as you do but its either this, or me, you, Kait, and Dad running around fighting something we can't handle, I mean, you saw that we needed Mechs to get to Reyna. And God, she knows we'll do it, because she won't listen to us unless we make her." JD looked exasperated, and that looked at his hand with betrayal as he reached for the pen.

"What about your dad?"

"I'll deal with him." JD growled. No argument there. The Del thought of something else. "Kait will be pissed, man. You know she's our friend but she might get worse than Marcus in an argument. I mean, she spent her whole life hiding, and fighting the COG, and her only two friends, _left alive_, are joining back."

JD looked worried for a brief second, Del was pretty sure he imagined it. JD? Afraid of Kait? "We'll get her to understand, we won't do this to rub it in her face." Del nodded

"I'll tell her if you don't want to, you'll already be dealing with your dad." JD hesitated, shrugged, and started to sign the papers, Del close behind.

_ Here we go again._

_..._

Kait didn't recall going back to her room, or packing a light bag, and shoving her old boots and mother necklace in with it. She simply grabbed her hat, and a black jack that reflected body heat. She put the black backpack on her shoulders and ran out of the room. She made it to the foyer and was cut off. Baird and Marcus stood in her way.

"Kait you can't go after them, for all we know they're dead, there is nothing we can do."

"How convenient for you, I'm going home and you can't stop me." She growled, preparing to fight her way out of here need be. She wasn't afraid of them, both of them.

"Hold on, dammit Jinn needs to talk to me back at the lab, I should be back in about twenty so Kait don't leave, Marcus watch her." Baird walked down the hallway. _Good riddance._

"I'm not afraid of you." She hissed at Marcus. "I'm going after them and you can't stop me. They are alive, people from my village are _alive_." Marcus watched her talk, before clearing his throat.

"I'm not stopping you. But you can't go alone. Once you leave Ephyra, you'll have the Swarm to deal with." Marcus turned and grabbed something from behind a chair, a bag, "I'm going with you. I hate this place too." He added quietly. Kait nodded, it was nice to have a friend.

"Let's go."

They snuck around the back of the mansion, a long dirt path ran in a perfect line from there to the gate. Kait took a straight path towards it, and walked a little left to the gate itself where there was a small arch and a door. It opened silently, and she walked down the tunnel in the wall and waited looking for any DeeBee's, nope, none. So they left, Marcus led the way, winding them through buildings and alleys, it went on for about two hours before they stopped. Kait checked that her bag was secure and fixed her grip on the Lancer. She watched silently as a Transport cart pulled up, but there were no DeeBee's. The screen glitched and big words scrawled across the screen.

** GET IN NOW!**

Kait and Marcus shrugged. Baird. Then Sam's voice came over the speakers. "I guess there is no point in stopping you, I'll take you through and underground system just outside the old Ephyra, get you to Settlement Five and leave your asses there. Baird has to go get JD and Del so I suggest you hurry, he leaves in about two hours, right now he's taking a nap, due to a nifty syringe filled with sedatives. I won't send bots after you two, Baird will just hack into the stream and take over from there. Just be careful out there." Kait smirked, she was beginning to really like the old woman. " and don't worry he won't know your gone till he comes back."

"You got that right, baby. WOOOOOOOOOOO!" Cole shouted over the radio. Marcus was laughing now. Walking towards the cart.

They got in and started going towards the wall at insane speed. So much that they sat down to keep they wind from ripping their faces off. All she saw when she looked up was the frames for the main gates of New Ephyra and then the stars, it was still dark, but a little lighter than it had been.

"We are so screwed if Jinn finds us," Kait mumbled quietly. "I kinda hope she does though."

"Why?"

"So I can cut off her head."

...

_Two hours later. . ._

Del relaxed slightly when he saw the Raven land in front of the lawn of the palace, almost grateful. They had allowed to roam the gardens for the past several hours, JD went off somewhere else on the several acres of trees and bushes, probably to think of how he was going to tell Kait and Marcus what they had done, he decided that he wanted to tell both of them, poor guy, his ears would be bleeding by the time he was done being shouted at.

Del saw Baird jump out of a Raven and start across the lawn towards him. Del waved, somewhere JD came towards them too. Baird shouted over the rotors. "You two ready to get outta here." They nodded, yeah they were. Del was starving, tired, and wanted to take a nice hot shower. "Good, Sam should be cooking something right now. If I remember correctly you both eat more than Cole, although that's not hard at all.

"You wanna go, Baldie?" Cole jumped out of the Raven, looking like he did something mischievous. He grinned even wider when he JD and Del. "We can have a competition later. You two need showers, bad, you smell like shit!" Del grinned, that much was true.

They made their way to the Raven, the rotor wash beating down on the close-cropped grass. He hauled himself in, it was normal now, he had done it so much already. And then the Raven lifted up, flying towards Baird's place he assumed. They weren't in the Raven for more than ten minutes, and then they touched down on Baird's landing pad. It was elevated about two stories by four, thick, marble pillars. JD sighed, looking almost nervous, but more tired.

The walked down the ramp from the landing pad and through glass doors into Baird's lab, Del caught a glimpse of a giant glass dome on the top floor. They wove their way through holographs, computers, and other things the old mechanic used. By the time they got to the foyer Del could tell something was off. Sam sat in a simple wooden chair stoking a cat in her lap. Del didn't knew she had a cat. She smiled when she saw them.

"Huh," Baird said looking around. "I thought we'd have more of a welcoming party." JD looked tense as his ice blue eyes searched the room. Del looked back a Sam.

"You won't find them here, I'm afraid. They are long gone." Sam smirked.

"You helped them escape? And are you the one who knocked me out, because I don't randomly take naps?" Baird asked looking furious.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! You've figured it out! The Cole Train kept his secret, baby. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Baird looked in the middle of anger and confusion. Del knew he looked surprised and JD looked . . . lost, and almost, almost sad. And Del felt the same way too, Kait left them without saying goodbye. Baird turned to Cole and stated cussing and shouting, he wouldn't dare take it out on his "special lady-friend." Sam tapped them on their shoulders and beckoned for them to follow her, into the kitchen it seemed. They sat down and ate quietly, Sam left them in silence to go break up Baird and Cole.

Del didn't know what was worse: telling Kait and Marcus they had joined back to the COG.

Or them leaving.

...

B.T.W the whole thing about marital status and the braid over the shoulder is true, it's in the Fandom (Kait's specifically) it's some sort of summer festival. And fun facts for the hell of it : JD is twenty one in the time of Gears four, and Anya died when he was six.


	2. Chapter 2

The tall grass brushed against Kait's legs as they walked silently through the field. Old broken down tractors hummed with crickets and crawled with vines and rust. Some were normal and others were completely strange and otherworldly. Kait held the Lancer tightly, half expecting a Juvie to jump out of the grass and yelp. But other than that she was expecting some of Sera's wildlife and Outer Wilds scavengers, praying for the Juvies instead should circumstances go to hell.

Marcus was quiet. Probably enjoying the view, the sun had come up an hour or two ago, bringing dreadful heat along with it, every so often the wind would be merciful and a gentle breeze would cool her sweat. Maybe wearing two shirts was a bad idea. She hadn't thought to change before she ran away from the mansion, and the long sleeve gray undershirt was not helping.

Trees. They needed trees. But then again they didn't. Kait had traveled true wilderness before and with their lack of ammunition they wouldn't survive half the shit Sera threw their way, but relaxed, they weren't close enough to the Wilds to encounter the animal monstrosities. Over the rise, she could see the outline of mountains and ridges. Marcus stopped and nodded in that direction. "That where we're goin'?" He grumbled.

"Yeah, there's an old mountain pass the traders used to use to get to Fort Umson, they stopped using it about seven years ago though. Due to Windflares and fatalities. Sometimes they didn't even go at all, even in the middle of winter, when we needed to trade most." Kait said quietly, then added, "We even stopped using the outer fields, because we would lose villagers and cattle too often. This is one of those fields."

"So how did you make it through winter then, it must be brutal out here?" Marcus asked, looking around again.

"My uncle, Oscar, and his horse Chuzz. He would breed Chuzz with the mares and for a while we survived on selling the foals alone, people mostly wanted Chuzz and the other horses, but Uncle refused to sell them." Kait started walking downhill. "Do you think Jinn knows we're gone?"

Marcus shook his head. "No, not yet at least, Baird doesn't see her till nineteen hundred today, or seven o' clock."

"I know military time, Marcus. My uncle was a frontline gear and my father was a lieutenant colonel." Kait said, the grass was getting shorter, it would take the rest of the day—if they kept a steady pace—to reach the mountain pass. He nodded, almost smiling.

"Gabriel, right?"

"Yeah, he was the one who taught me how to read." Kait felt her throat tighten, she missed her father, hell, and she still woke up from nightmares, _screaming_ his name.

Then there was silence. No comments, nothing but the hum of wildlife and breathing as they crossed the old fields, pastures, and barns. By dusk, they reached the pass and Kait looked around for the familiar path. She had been here, once, a long, long time ago. Marcus came up beside her, his eyes scanning far off gullies, ravines, sinkholes, and whatever else Sera had waiting for them. Most of it was masked by tall cedar and pine trees, no tree was closer to its neighbor by more than ten feet, she crouched down picked up a few dead leaves from a dead bush, crushed them in her hand, and held the bits in her palm. When the breeze came through it blew them towards her face.

"Good. We're upwind, for now, c'mon." She beckoned for Marcus to follow, and they walked in silence, slowly the forest got denser and Kait started looking a tree to climb, at the moment the high ground would the best option. She turned towards Marcus. "Can you climb that?" She pointed to a tall cedar, Marcus nodded and went first. He was surprisingly quick. Kait wondered why for a second then shook the thought away and climbed up after him, carrying the Lancer at an awkward angle.

"Why are we up so high?" Marcus shifted so he could straddle the branch and lean against the trunk. Kait let her legs dangle over instead.

"Wolves, mostly." She muttered. _At least the normal ones are the only ones in these mountains, _Kait thought quietly, horrifying images of what wolves really were flooded her mind, and not just wolves, all the other monsters that roamed the Outer Wilds came to her present memory as well."All the Mutts are far away from here."

"Mutts?"

"Mutations." Kait said that and went quiet she didn't want to discuss it right now, and thankfully Marcus didn't say anything more on the topic. "What do you think Jinn wanted with them?" Marcus shifted and didn't saying anything for a minute then replied, his voice rough.

"Nothing good, first thought was she wanted to know Outsider plans, if not from your village then from the others, or maybe she just wanted to talk, about what, I don't have a goddamn clue." He finished, scratching at the stubble on his cheek.

"They are going to be so mad at me, and maybe you." Kait muttered, resting an elbow on her knee and cupping the side of her face in her hand, while scratching at the dirt on the knees of her dark gray pants."They are probably terrified of you."

Marcus snorted as though amused, "are you kidding, because James will not hesitate to get in an argument or speak his mind. You two share that quality." He added. Kait kept silent for a moment, wondering if that was true, yes, she spoke her mind and didn't care what the hell anyone thought, but when she argued, it was short, and sometimes escalated into a fight, she lost control once, and slammed Miguel's head into a piano until Oscar dragged her away. Miguel had been in the infirmary for two weeks, healing slowly from head injuries. Kait curled her fingers into a fist.

_Beastie . . ._ that's what the villagers had called her, Beastie, and she hated it. After a while it stopped, but she never forgave them for it, just like they never forgave her for almost killing Miguel. She couldn't help it, she never told anyone that, because they would laugh at her, and call her a liar. It was light something dark inside, and it grew. Vengeance? Hatred? Anger? And it only got worse since from then, and with the Swarm killing everyone she ever knew, it seemed out of control. But she felt fine, completely human, no monsters in this shell they called a body, no _Beasties._

"At least you don't run away from the COG, go Outsider, and piss off psychopathic women." Marcus laughed lightly. "He ever pissed you off?"

"Yeah, I regret being sarcastic around him. It led to him getting into a couple brawls back at the village. Del was the opposite, he wanted to become friends with everybody, I think I was the only person JD really was friends with from Umson." Marcus had a strange looked on his face, almost critical.

"I don't think I like you anymore, you taught my son how to be a smartass, and I already put up with Baird." He shook his head in a dramatic way.

"I was kinda stuck with him and Del, how to navigate the village, and trade. Stuff like that. My mother put me in the babysitter spot. That was fun." Kait sighed, smiling. "Oscar hated them, especially JD, I can't count on less than five fingers how many times he wanted to tie JD to a chair and punch him senseless." Marcus smiled at that, staring off into space, Kait had the faint idea he found it amusing to imagine JD getting hurt. _Interesting family._

"Well I doubt he'll be too mad at you, probably sadder than anything." He sighed and studied her face. Kait tried to fit the pieces together, then gave up.

"What do you mean?"

Marcus raised an eyebrow, Kait could've sworn he smirked. "I'll let you figure that one out. Anyway, get some rest, I'll take first watch. Don't worry, I'll wake you if anything . . ._ unusual_ happens." Kait nodded and climbed up a few branches until she found branches that ran right next to each other, about five feet long. There was no gap, just a small place in between the branches that, if she slept on her shoulder, might make her chances of falling out of a tree lessen. From her shins down hung of the branches, bringing an arm under her head, she closed her eyes and slept.

_Somewhere a child screams._

_The noise fades into a rhythm almost like a lullaby. She could hear a woman softly singing along to rhythmed screaming, dark, slow singing._

_Black feathers, and black wings, _

_Of a lonely death she will sing,_

_She will perch there, standing broken and alone,_

_Grieving for the loss of one of her own,_

_For there is a monster that lives in her head, _

_Making her do whatever it said,_

_Sinister bird, sinister beauty, _

_Her talons responsible for her undoing,_

_It's been stalking her for years,_

_Because it feeds on her fears, _

_The blood pools in the dust, it does not disappear,_

_Only washed away by the raven's tears,_

_The raven's lonely cry echoes through there,_

_The feathers slice through the air,_

_She cannot stay, _

_For the monster inside wants out to come play._

Kait sat up, breathing hard, that dreadful song ran circles in her head, she heard it before. By she didn't know how, she had never heard anyone in her village sing it before. And the voice, it was polished, imperial, and human. She shivered and reached for the bag she had hung from an overhead branch. Pulling out the black jacket. In her haste to leave she missed the details on the black fabric. Several connected octagons made of some shiny material laced all the way around the jacket and there were orange stripes than ran down her collarbone. Peering through the branches she could make out a light blue sky.

"Marcus?"

"Still alive!" He called back. She resisted the urge to yell at him for not waking her up, he'd kept watch all night. _Crazy bastard._ Kait zipped the jacket up to her chin and pulled herself up to the next branch, then the next one, until she was able to see out of the top of the tree. The sun was an orange sliver on the horizon. In the valley was thick fog and flocks of birds. She climbed down and told the old veteran there schedule.

Once their feet hit the forest floor, it hit Kait then what they should do for food. She could hunt, she knew that, but blood wasn't something you wanted a predator to smell out here. They would have food at the village, Kait was almost positive they would make it before noon.

It was a painful process, crossing small canyons, and gullies, so far the most aggressive thing she had seen was a piranha and that was from one of the deep pools fed by a creek. Marcus bent at the knees, panting. "How are you not lagging?"

"Because, I'm used to this." Kait replied simply, "Fort Umson is just over that ridge, about three more miles and we should be there." Marcus rolled his eyes and mumbled something about suicide, and for a brief moment she thought JD standing in front of her, joking about life or death situations, and almost wished he was. It might make the knot of dread in her stomach go away. She shook her head and beckoned for Marcus to follow, slinging her Lancer over her shoulder, three more miles.

…

Kait almost wished it had been longer. She stood in what was once a home, and looked at the devastation around her, saddening. Marcus put a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry 'bout this." He grumbled then walked ahead, possibly imagining what the place had been like before.

She walked away from the rubble and towards the south of the village, the part closer to the mountains, and saw something glint on the ground by the destroyed back gate. Cedar and pines gave it background just outside the breaking walls but the way the sun caught on the metal.

Baird's Watcher!

Kait ran over to it, almost dropping her Lancer and crouched down in front of it. Whatever shadow she had seen in the footage did this, Pouncer? No, too small, and there were puncture holes in the metal, from teeth, Kait flipped it over, seeing something yellowish lodged in the silver.

A tooth. She pinched her fingers on the end and pulled up, it was a lot longer than she anticipated, and it curved. Whatever had done this, it was not Swarm. Tucking it into the side of her pack Kait looked up, she didn't see any footprints in the dirt trails, she glanced around again, making a visor with one hand and looking in the direction where she thought she had seen the twins.

The old bar was a few boards still standing, the rest had been splintered, the glass, shattered. There were no footprints here either, it looked as normal as a destroyed bar got. So she continued searching, all the ruins: houses, barns, sheds, etc. Nothing, they weren't here at all, gone. They left, and she was pretty sure she knew why. Kait pulled out the tooth and inspected it again, long, curved and serrated. Kait closed her eyes and tried to remember what all she could about the creatures in the outer wilds of Sera. Then gave up, she couldn't remember, not at the moment at least. So, instead she went to her house, walking down the long dirt path that branched off one way to the barn and pastures and the other to the homestead.

She went into the house, perfectly intact, and started digging through the cabinets, searching for food and medical supplies. Marcus came in a bit later and started helping her.

"Didn't find anything, you?" He asked throwing a few packages of dried fruit into his bag, Kait shook her head.

"It wasn't Swarm." She mumbled. Marcus paused and raised an eyebrow. "I found a tooth, in the Watcher, whatever it belongs to, it isn't Swarm."

"You think it took them?"

"No. They would've run while it attacked the Watcher, if they were smart, I doubt it got them though, I didn't see any blood where we saw them in the village, so they must've run." Kait wasn't willing to admit they might be dead, even if it was true. She was trying her hardest to cling to the little, almost non-existent, hope she had left. "I'm gonna go for a walk." Marcus nodded.

The dirt crunched softly under her boots as she walked, thinking of where they would go in the morning, the next thing they needed was for Jinn to show up on site ready to collect them. The barn loomed ominously in the darkening sky, it was right next to the old silos. The doors were as wide as the house itself and at least twenty feet tall. The only problem with these ones was didn't slide open for you, you had to open them.

They creaked loudly on unoiled hinges and Kait was already reaching for the light switch, they turned on, row by row, until yellow light flooded the space. On one half of the barn was tool benches, an abandoned tractor and tools scattered all around, at the other half, stalls lined the space, some were empty, but some were full. Their mares were standing up, peering through the bars, somewhere a sheep bleated stupidly. The last stall on the right was open, Kait started to walk towards it and her a snap behind her.

Kait whipped around reaching instinctively for something to swing, and then paused. It was just a foal, standing in the doorway, it walked clumsily towards her, it ears pricked it was close enough it pressed its face into her stomach and flicked its tail happily. Kait patted its thick neck and turned to look over her shoulder, the stall was open still was the mom? That had been one thing Kait learned growing up with Oscar, the mothers _never,_ left their foals until they were full grown and even then they still were close. Kait walked away from it and it followed her, until about two stalls from the last and then it reared up and tucked its tail between the legs and backed up.

Weird.

Slowly she turned around, her eyes going up, the light was flickering, slowly at first, the rapidly almost like a strobe light. Kait stepped forward in front of the stall and paled. Now she knew where the mom had gone.

The slumped corpse lay in death, the eyes were missing from the sockets, and where their should've been flesh on it's flank, there was a big gaping hole, intestine crawled around the body, or at least what was left of them, and very few organs were left. Kait resisted the urge to walk away and instead looked at the bite marks on the leg and neck.

Identical to the ones on the Watcher.

Predator. Monster. Not Swarm.

Kait had left the barn after that, letting all the horses go as well, one of the young males, his antlers beginning to sprout from his muzzle walked quietly next to his mother, the young foal she had seen earlier joined the herd as they moved through the pasture, at least they could have the ability to run should they get attacked again. Kait rubbed her arm through the sleeve of her jacket, walking back towards the house in silence, wishing her dad was here. He had known _all _about the wildlife. Hell, he could've written you a whole book on why male horses had antlers on their faces. Kait smiled at that thought. She had learned how to hunt from him.

Marcus was asleep on the couch when she got back. Kait sat down at the table, eating an apple silently. She wasn't tired, in fact she was far from that, she felt ready to run a thousand miles and not stop, was it from fear? She shook her head and threw the apple core out the window, before heading upstairs.

What really scared her was how intact the place was, pictures on the wall still had their layers on dust on the frames, and the doors to all the bedrooms were shut, just the way they had been. Instead of going back downstairs, she went into her bedroom.

A leather jacket hung on the wall by the door, the bed was made neatly in the middle of the wall on her right, and the nightstand looked perfect, an unfinished book resting on top. Kait took off her bag and set it on the bed, emptying the contents onto the mattress, a blanket made of a –normal—bear's hide acted as a decoration for the comforter. Kait peeled off her clothes, smelling of sweat, and instead, put on tight dark blue jeans, a black tank top and a blue and gray plaid button up shirt, she left it unbuttoned though and rolled the sleeves up to her elbows. She pulled on a pair of black-and-white Converse and tied the laces. She put another outfit similar to it in the bag and whatever food she could fit, along with a full canteen.

Kait then studied herself in the mirror on the wall. She looked normal—or as close to normal—as she could get. She tucked her dark bangs behind one ear and untied the ponytail she had over her left shoulder. Her hair had been parted to the side, the side that wasn't long was close cropped to an inch of dark hair. But over the past few days it had gotten longer, about two inches in length now, Kait ran her hand through the bangs backwards and curled all of her hair into her fist, ponytail and all, before twisting it around into a low bun, A few strands of hair, about the thickness of half a centimeter fell in front of her eye. Kait checked the reflection in the mirror. She saw her whole face this time and smiled, the freckles on her face stood out against the tan skin and her eyes were no longer bloodshot from tiredness. The way her hair—including the bangs—had been tucked back made her look more like her father in a way. And the stray lock of straight raven-black hair than hung over her face made her look somewhat, _more _Outsider. Kait liked it, a lot and decided to leave it up rather than take it down.

Throwing her backpack on, surprised by its lightness, Kait went back downstairs. Marcus had been asleep for a little over an hour-and-a-half and Kait let him stay there. She dropped the bag by the door and ran off the porch, her shoes skidding on the dirt, and ran towards the barn. The lights were still on and the corpse seemed untouched. Kait went back to one of the tool benches and grabbed an extremely sharp machete and its sheath off the bench and reached for a wooden bat. She rested it on the edge of the table and grabbed a hammer and nails from one of the dusty shelves. She nailed one of the long metal spikes through the wood and turned the bat, repeating the process.

When she was done she twirled it in one hand, the nails were hammered in at different angles rather than even rows, it made it look more like teeth rather than a mace. She sheathed the machete and grabbed the bat, walking back to the house. It had taken her thirty minutes to do the bat right, and when she went inside again Marcus was up, pacing.

"What is_ that?_" He asked pointing to the weaponized bat in her hand. Kait smiled.

"What, are Outsider's a little too crazy for you now? Come on, I'm being resourceful, it should help with most of what we face out there. At least till we get to the next destination." Now Marcus was confused. Kait set down the weapons and walked over to a cabinet, she pulled out a map and flattened it on the table. "I think I know where they're headed, it's a bit of a walk from here, but we can take the horses, we should make it in a few days."

"What is it? Another village?" He asked staring at the map. Kait nodded.

"Riftworm Village. It should be decent weather there right now, since it's not yet Frost." Kait grabbed a pen from one of the drawers and circled a spot on the map, just south of Riftworm. "That's an old house we used to use when we traveled there. It was mostly used by my dad, but Oscar and I were the only other ones to use it." She folded the map and handed it to him. "Just in case we get split up."

Marcus nodded, and started heading towards the door. "I'll go get horses then." Kait shook her head in understanding and unzipped the top of her bag slightly, shoving the sheathed machete in the gap and then crossed the extra straps on the back of her bag and slid the bat in the crosshatched cords. The spiked part jutted out and diagonally over her left shoulder when she put the pack on. Kait checked to make sure her knife was secured to her calf and headed towards the door after Marcus. When she saw him leading the horses over, she pointed over her left shoulder.

"Want it, bringing Lancers might do more harm than good." The noise would be the problem. He looked thoughtful for a few seconds then shook his head. "You keep your creepy weapons, I'll bring my Lancer." When she started to object her held out a hand. "I'll only use the bullets if I have too, other than that I'll use the saw." Kait shrugged. Fair enough. And clambered onto the horses back, sending one last look at her house, and frowned. She made a silent goodbye, and spurred the horse forward, Marcus not far behind. They passed the destroyed Watcher and out the destroyed back gates. Kait looked at the ridge ahead, over that waited danger. Kait knew how to handle herself out there, but what if it had changed?

"You know, somehow I'm not scared of what's out there, and I know what we will see."

"Because you're different. Fear doesn't shut you down, it wakes you up. Makes you try harder, and fight harder." Marcus said quietly.

"Huh. Never thought about it like that before." Kait said. He wasn't wrong, she remembered Miguel, and being chased by giant animals when she was a kid, wounding Outer Wilds Scavengers if they got to close, the psychopaths. It did make her fight harder. She looked back at the ridge again and smiled. Danger? She felt energy hum through her veins it was like never-ending adrenaline.

_What's up, Danger?_


	3. Chapter 3

Next day

Del sat patiently on his stool at the breakfast bar. Sam was across the counter stirring something in a pot, it smelled delicious, like something spicy and zesty. Cole sat at the table behind him, talking quietly to Baird, and JD . . . Del didn't know where he was. Probably asleep still was his best bet. As soon as they had gotten back and had breakfast, they had gone to their bedrooms and taken a shower and napped. Sam turned something over in a pan, it sizzled and hissed before she put the lid on and walked to the cutting board on the counter across the room, chopping frantically at carrots and peppers. Del scratched his fingernail at the polished marble and sighed silently. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Baird tapped him on the shoulder.

"You like to tinker with bots, right?" Baird was smiling, although it looked painful on him, he was pretty much a dick person. Del checked the wide doorway to make sure JD wasn't there and followed Baird through the mansion, back to his lab. They went to the top floor.

The place was relatively organized, a big dome of glass went from the floor up and showed the sun setting on New Ephyra. Baird hauled a fabricator over. "Now, "he said, his voice strained from effort. "Let's see if you can fix it." If Del hadn't been bored out of his mind, fixing a fabricator would have sounded like something you gave to DeeBee's to fix. But after the past few days, it seemed like the perfect way to enjoy his afternoon.

Baird helped as they carried into the glass tube and went one floor down. The sterile space was completely clean and organized with precision. "Alright, I.R.I.S, lower Surgical Arms." A computer voice came through unseen speakers.

"Certainly, Damon." Then from sliding white tiles in the ceiling two, absolutely massive, robotic arms lowered, they dragged the fabricator once more, this time to a white, raised platform, with a blue holographic ring around it, the ring rose up and down, scanning the machine. Then I.R.I.S. confirmed an error and displayed the fabricator as a holograph, the red parts indicating damage. The robotic arms moved forward, gripped the machine in the large pinchers and lifted it up.

"Do you want me to fix it, Damon or leave it to Lieutenant Walker?" The voice was computer but it had human tones and moods incorporated into it.

"Is she A.I.?" Del asked. Baird nodded, smiling.

"Still working out the kinks, but she works." Del watched as panels in the shiny, almost reflective, white walls slid back and presented a table of perfectly arranged tools and even IV packs full of some sort of dark blue liquid. Del felt genuinely happy for once, at least since the kidnappings, and studied the holographic display of the fabricator and walked up to the console.

"Hey, I.R.I.S., can you please bring up a smaller version of surgical arms?" Del inspected the red areas again on the holograph, I.R.I.S. said something about how she appreciated manners and Del watched two long arms extend out of the bigger ones, but they could be used in many different ways, the fingers, four on each "hand," could change into several different things for several different uses. A holographic screen appeared at his chest level and he felt something sharp in his wrists, when he looked down he saw two metal cuffs around them, different code and technological designs were displayed around the metal. Then when Del looked up he saw that he was moving the smaller arms. Apparently "surgical" meant actual robot surgery. Apparently it also occurred to him Baird was testing his abilities, the old man stood in a corner watching.

Del looked at the screen in front of him as much as he looked at the arms and fingers of the machine, every so often he would have to remove a few pieces of metal casing on the fabricator to get to the damaged sections of wire and "nerves" after a while he got pretty good at it, twisting a wire here, replacing a tube for easier fluid flow. Now, Del was screwing the shelling back into place admiring his work. He quickly jogged over to the table and grabbed the IV packs before setting them at his feet and using the surgical arms to grab them and plug them into transfusers in the ceiling and watched as the blue liquid flowed through clear plastic tubes into the fabricator.

"Surgery, complete." I.R.I.S. sounded impressed when she said the words. Baird clapped dramatically, pretending to wipe tears from his cheeks. He clutched his heart.

"Oh gah, I'm just so proud."

"Yeah, yeah all right. Whatever." Del muttered. After saying bye to I.R.I.S. they brought the fabricator back up to the top floor, setting down by two double sliding metal doors. "So, you passed the test, now, you are a true cybersurgen. Don't worry, it's a good gig." Del shrugged, he preferred the Sawing-the-shit-outta-Swarm gig more.

"Maybe, I'll look into when all your other robots that can do this way better than me retire." Baird rolled his eyes muttering something about ungrateful young people. "Is JD up yet? I don't know how long I was there but it was a while. Right?"

"Hour and a half, and no clue. Probably thinking of mean things to say to me and or brooding in a corner." Baird said. Del nodded, JD didn't exactly brood, he just got quiet and didn't really talk to anyone, like he did when they were about to confront Marcus two days ago. "Come on Sam should have finished cooking by now, that stupid recipe she uses take _forever_ to cook."

By the time they got to the kitchen, Sam was washing her hands in the sink, Cole was pouring glasses of wine, and JD was setting the table. Del ran over to join him as Sam carried a big dish over to the wooden surface and sat it down. Once everything was ready, food was on plates, and they were eating did Del realize something was off. There were about six extra chairs at the table but only the seat next to Sam and the one across from it seemed to be empty, like people should be there.

"Man," Cole shook his head, "these tomatoes just ain't the same as Marcus's, baby." Cole looked somewhat sad. "But it still's damn good!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean, Augustus. Where's Marcus to flex his jaw and sigh when we're all being idiots." Sam smiled back at the old gear.

"Well oh my God, this just got depressing." Baird said twirling his fork in his food. "Let me guess we're gonna start talking about how tough-as-nails our Outsider Princess is and how she is now running off with Marcus to go save the lives of the twins that magically survived the devastation." Del was quiet, he hadn't known _that _part of the story. Baird seemed to realize his mistake a little too late.

"_What?"_ It was JD, he looked rather shocked. "There were _survivors_? And you didn't tell us? What the hell were you thinking?"

"Well, maybe I was thinking that they wouldn't run off to go save them when I showed them the footage. What? Are you upset that your girlfriend dumped you for your old man?"

Sam shouted at him, but it was convenient that Baird and JD sat next to each other. Because as soon as the comment left Baird's mouth JD had already thrown a punch, right under Baird's ear, another one following to the old gears nose. Cole intercepted out of nowhere, ending the ass kicking. Baird was bleeding from his nose and was cursing loudly.

"Hey Damon, you remember Bernie, and that time she kicked your ass in the mess hall? You just had déjà vu bitch." JD looked upset as he glared at Damon.

"She's not my _girlfriend_." JD hissed and walked out of the kitchen, after a few long seconds Del heard a door slam.

"Well looks like you turned out to be a great uncle, Baird." Sam said, sipping her wine. "You really pushed boundaries there."

"Yeah well, they both can deny it but they are a _little _more than a camaraderie." Baird growled, wiping blood from his face. "Maybe the little shit will figure it out one day."

Del had seen JD in plenty of fights, all at Umson, but that one seemed the most personal, and even if it was short lived it had a lot more emotion behind it than the others.

Del went to bed after helping Sam clean up, and as he stared up at the ceiling he wondered if Kait and Marcus were okay, if they would be safe at all. The worst they would see, Del assumed, was Swarm, if any. Slowly he closed his eyes, wishing them safety, something he had learned from the Outsiders when they went on hunts or left to trade, and fell asleep.

…

By the way the part where Cole references Bernie and her punching Baird in the mess hall was true, it from the novel Aspho Fields. And technically that would be the second time someone called Kait JD's girlfriend (Marcus the first) thought it'd be fun to see Baird get punched, but that's just me. ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Marcus didn't quite know how to phrase the situation he was in. First complaint, it was hotter than hell in the afternoon_,_ his sweat was sweating from the humidity created by hot temperatures and the nearby waterfall that he was hearing. Second, maybe he was a bit freaked out from the fact that they hadn't seen anything yet: birds, bees, _Juvies_. Third—he didn't necessarily point this out—but he was _really fucking bored_, partially because he was riding a horse, so medieval, he still was trying to wrap his head around the thought of people riding these things for _days_ and also because there was nothing to have the teeth of his chainsaw bayonet catch on and chop up. Kait's horse was a few meters ahead of him, she looked eager to be out here. _Probably glad to be away from Jinn, and maybe because this was her homeland, or, maybe she's a thrill seeker, _Marcus thought to himself, they all made sense. Kait hated Jinn, Kait loved the forest, and Kait seemed like an adrenaline junkie. _I mean who rides a windmill when they're a kid? Who says it's easy to ride a turbine up a dam, who's not afraid to be ripped apart by something other than Swarm. _Kait.

Marcus winced as a flash of someone's memory, he didn't know who, and it could've been anyone the Swarm had taken, a child, maybe. They were blowing on a pinwheel held by some mysterious woman's hand. It went away, but Marcus still shook his head, stupid Swarm. Ever since he had fallen out of that pod he had memories, flashbacks of people's lives. Mostly the Outsiders of Fort Umson, but also random people from COG settlements. Still, it sucked.

Kait had been quiet ever since they left the village, her home, her people, her friends, and her family, all gone, maybe that's why she was so eager, she had hope. That the twins were still out there, still alive, and that she could save them. Marcus didn't comment on it. She was still grieving for the loss of her mother. He had been in that situation before.

Dom. Maria.

A man that had tried so hard, fighting through enemy and not stopping to get to his wife, and had to kill her in the end. Now Kait knew that feeling too, it was awful, because she did what he did when he grieved.

Dust off your boots and keep going.

Yeah, she had cried and had gotten somewhat depressed, but in the end she acted like nothing else had happened, not letting anything stop her from saving the two twins they had seen through Baird's now destroyed Watcher. Marcus hoped Kait was right about them heading to the right place, because if they got there and the kids weren't were they thought it would end up in a crazy manhunt all over goddamn Tyrus.

He had also found himself looking at a changed person. Outsiders were known for repurposing clothing, but in a smart way, Kait had gone from that kind of style to tight blue jeans, a black tank top and an unbuttoned blue and grey plaid shirt that she had rolled up to her elbows, not to mention Converse instead of boots, or her pulling her bangs and use-to-be ponytail into a low bun, and without a hat to top it off. Marcus tried to figure out why, he sat there in a gray t-shirt and cargos, and she had also insisted they not bring armor because it would "slow them down." He shrugged off his thoughts and returned his attention to his surroundings.

The cedars and pines had turned into dense forest. The trees were all over five stories tall, branches grew in weird ways: arches, loops, twists. And moss and ivy and even the occasional flower along branches and trunks. Up ahead, Kait was passing under a giant arched branch with a few feet of lichen dangling down. Every so often an insect with too many legs and weird pinchers would glow. Marcus had never seen that kind of bug before. Red and orange stipes ran along it sides and it was as long as his index finger, width included. Marcus looked up ahead at Kait who was now starring off to her left, eyebrows drawn in focus. She had stopped her horse—the bestial things—even its ears were pricked that way. The sun peered through in distant patches through thick boughs of leaves. Kait swung her leg over and walked off into the trees, the horse stayed where it was at, but Kait didn't seem to notice or care, and he found himself jogging after her, leaving his horse behind as well. He found her in a small clearing, winding branches loomed everywhere, except for a small patch of what appeared to be yellow ferns, some were shorter that his calf but others got up to fifteen feet in height. He reached out to touch one, his Lancer hanging loosely at his side. His fingers was at least an inch away and then it curled all the way down to the base, like a snail in its shell. He started trying to reach all of them, and finally they all began to curl and shrink, smallest to biggest.

That's when he realized his mistake.

The creature was built like a tank and the size of an elephant. It had eight stumpy gray legs, a hunched back with an even darker grey striping and a square head that jutted out horns to either side of its skull and one on the nose. Its nostrils flared in anger. He caught a glimpse of six eyes—three on each side—all like a goats with the oval pupils and white irises. Marcus brought his gun up, eyeing the armored plating that ran all over the thing's body. It let out a trumpet like noise.

"MARCUS! Don't shoot!" Kait had come up to his right, twenty feet away, her hand braced against a tree. "Don't shoot, you'll piss him off."

"It's already pissed off!" He shouted back, the elephant-thing scuffed at the grass with one of it thick feet, it even had the feet of an elephant, tearing up chunks of grass and dirt. Then green and yellow quills, at least two dozen, sprang up along its back, rattling.

"It's a territorial display," Kait started, the creature rammed on of its head spikes into a nearby tree, breaking it in half, "don't move or he'll charge you. Just hold your ground." Marcus stayed in place, so this is what Kait meant by "I know what's out there," so he lowered the Lancer and raised his chin. The thing bellowed and charged. Marcus did too, maybe if he could sidestep and duck the horn. . .

The thing skidded to a stop, the horn on its nose a few feet from Marcus's chest. The colored quills on the spine flattened down and it lowered its head, like a defeated dog. It looked right, at Kait and then backed up, slowly at first, then gradually picked up speed, Marcus saw that there was a small herd with it. _Goddamn. That was just a baby._ The adults were twice the size of the one that had charged him, and the hons were fucking humungous too.

"Haha, that's right! Get your fat ass back to mommy." He shouted. Something snapped from where Kait was at, he ignored it, staring at the animals. Strange, beautiful, and sentient.

The sun was now a sliver in the sky, the rest was a light blue fading navy. Then the herd began to trumpet. It sounded almost-distressed? Something growled, again, to his right. He looked at Kait.

But she wasn't looking at him.

The thing that had crawled over the thick dead log behind her was definitely not what he had expected. Unlike the elephant-thing this one was completely different. Predatory, it's long, lean legs, acting strange as the clawed fingers dug into the soft bark. It had six legs, four up front, and two in the back. A short thick neck that sprouted the nightmare head. There face was angular and bony, protrusions of armored plating jutting from places on the face, its mouth was lined with serrated teeth, long and curved. It hissed loudly, its mouth opening, and Marcus saw it had a secondary mouth that protruded from the gums.

It was catlike in its movements and its four yellow eyes darted everywhere. The tail was thin and long sprouting at the end into three different ones that all ended in a claw. The body was a deep blue color and was covered in armored skin. The way the line of the mouth curved up into an almost carved smile made Marcus freeze, the thing crawled towards Kait, its long tongue hanging limply from the side of its mouth. It twitched its head to the side and its arms moved forward, the back arched and Marcus saw that between the plates, thin spikes began to push through the flesh all over the shoulders and spine. The claws began to get longer as it walked closer. Kait was backing up slowly. The thing was at least ten feet at the shoulder and twice that in length—not including the tail. Its yellow gaze flickered to the herd to its side, then back to Kait.

_That's what destroyed the Watcher._

"Marcus," Kait whispered, not shifting her eyes, "get down, and when it goes get to the horses and get out." He wanted to ask if she was about to sacrifice herself then ducked beneath the large leaves of a plant close to him, Lancer aimed.

The monster stopped, twitched, and sprang, Kait dodged left and all Marcus saw was her low bun, plaid shirt and spiked bat as she disappeared, and angry creature storming after her.

…

Kait ducked underneath and overhanging branch and moved between the trees in a zigzag pattern. Kait reached back for the bat, and when it lunged to grab her she sidestepped and gave it a mouthful of spiked bat to chew on. The Mutt howled in pain, a mixture between hisses and roars. Kait started running again. She heard a roaring sound that was gradually getting closer. It wasn't the Mutt but the-the…

Waterfall.

Kait made herself go faster, she could hear the monster charging through the woods after her, double checking her bag was on tight, she broke the tree line, the ground going from dense forest to slick stone under her feet. And by the sound of it the Mutt did too, Kait jumped, over the edge. The drop itself was a little under fifty feet, but it still hurt to have cold, icy water, go up your nose and seep through your clothes.

Kait broke the surface, breathing hard, the river bottom her feet scraping along the riverbed. She looked up back at the cliff. It wasn't there, she looked back where she had come and paled. It was _swimming_. Fast too, Kait made herself go faster as well, psychotic animal, she heard another roar: another waterfall. Kait grunted in pain, she could see up ahead where the water dipped and ran off the edge, she peered closer at the water. There were rocks!

The first one slammed into her side, Kait grunted and tried to prepare for the next one. That one grazed her back and searing pain flared up. Something coiled around her leg.

Snake?

She looked down, but the almost black water kept her from seeing through. And it felt like she was being tugged—upstream? She then remembered the three tails that sprouted about halfway down the Mutt's and looked up at it. It was standing still, tongue hanging out the side of its mouth, and those yellow eyes had a hungry look in them. She thrashed wildly, reaching back over her head. She was ten feet away now. The Mutt dropped its mouth for a hiss, revealing both sets of jaws in its mouth. Kait tugged the machete out of its sheath and over her head, down through the water and felt a satisfaction of the something giving way, the monster howling, and the tail uncoiling from around her leg. She kicked free and the current swept her back, rocks jutted out of the water once more. This time she slipped around them and used the smooth stones as something to push off of. And then the water dipped and shot over the side, Kait held the machete tightly as she dove, throwing it towards the bank and dove into the water. It stung her face, the icy blasts of mist coming from water on falling water wasn't helping. Her body ached from the rocks and the fall. She used on arm to move herself towards the bank, and as it turned out the machete had made it too. She hauled herself onto the shore and struggled to catch her breath. She was numb, and needed to get her temperature up. That would be difficult though, the sun had set and lighting a fire would only invite more unwanted trouble.

The Mutt was perched on the side of waterfall, screaming at her. Its dark blue plating almost blending in with the dark sky behind it. Kait gathered her things and stood up. It destroyed a Watcher, and ate one of her horses, the creepy little bastard. She walked away hearing it howl in frustration. It wouldn't jump over the edge, too far of a drop and the water was too deep at the bottom, unless its long legs could reach the slimy river floor it couldn't swim. The cold was really beginning to seep through her skin and into her muscles and bones, her teeth chattered.

This kind of thing was normal, psycho animals chasing you? Don't worry you'll either die or live. Outsiders were used to it, and usually could fend off the attacks. Being part of a group or family is something she had always known. Born and Bred, as they said. The only time she ever felt truly alone was when she went hunting. Many had called her stupid-brave, even hunting in a pair was dangerous.

She hugged the tree line, the dense woods and their glowing plants and branches dripping a brown tar. Some plants were even upside down mushrooms the size of one of Oscar's wagons. Kait hoped Marcus had listened, that he would still go on his way to the old house in the woods. Hopefully. She would need to go around the lonely mountain and through the redwood and pine forest to get there the quickest, it was one of the alternative routes on the map. The main one would be the one her and Marcus had been originally taking. She redid her low bun and the same strands of hair fell over her face, no matter how many countless times she tucked it behind her ear. Her clothes were beginning to dry, it would take a while for them too fully, but they would.

The vegetation began to die down as she kept walking. An hour or two passed, she couldn't tell how long she had been walking, the cold racking her body in jerks. All she knew is she had climbed a tree and positioned herself between an inclined branch and the trunk and slowly fell asleep.

…

When she woke up, it was a violent straightening of her spine, the back of her head colliding with the tree behind her, Kait hissed in pain, rubbing the spot. The air was cool, and when kait looked down all she saw was several feet of branches and tree between her and the floor of the forest. She had managed to climb a tall oak the previous night before. When she peered through the branches she saw the sky was a somewhat light blue color, no sun-just blue. At least her clothes and shoes had dried out, the bag and all of its contents should have been fine too. She took it off her back, noticing she had also managed to sheath the machete and put it back in the backpack. Now she drew it and stuck the first few inches through the branch in front of her, she dug through the bag, pulling out the canteen. She drank a mouthful and put it back, leaned her head against the trunk and closed her eyes. Inhaled then packed everything up, and climbed down.

The stretched backwards, her back popping loudly along with the chorus of crickets. Shifting her gaze around her Kait found a good grip on her machete and stalked of through the fronds and ferns. She had indeed found the beginning to redwood forest. Both good and bad.

Good: not as much stuff to kill you, mostly herbivores and normal animals. _Mostly_.

Bad: Outer Wilds Scavengers. Or the Shattered. Now those people were freaky as hell. Many belonged to a village at some point, only to be kicked out for one reason or another. Murder. Rape. Torture on extreme levels. To the COG, Outsiders were psychopathic because they lived out here, in the outsider way of life, if you were called that it meant you had done serious crimes, were a cannibal, or straight up insane.

Those that had been accused were exiled from the village, and if they'd manage to survive had been changed into even more creepy people. It was almost like a curse on the Outer Wilds, you couldn't stay long before you lost your mind, just like most of the animals. But that rarely happened, usually you just had to watch out for the packs, or even loners, they were known for killing a bunch of people, random ones that still got the protection of a village, just out of hate, anger, and possibly the love for blood. There had been times when Kait wondered if she hadn't been Reyna's daughter that she would've ended up like them, for losing control, for slamming someone's head into a piano. Outsiders of the outsiders. She pushed away the thought. The ground was soft and the dirt crunched under her Converse.

She walked for hours, even when the sun was fully up and streaming in between branches. The wind rustled the trees, Kait heard a gunshot go off, and it was nearby. Definitely nearby. She ducked under an overhang of rock, her stomach pressed into the dirt, and stone hovering a few inches above her back. She rolled up the sleeves of her plaid shirt, a little above the elbow and switched to an overhand grip on the machete. Something snapped.

A deer bolted through the brush, panicked as it galloped away on it legs. That was the first normal animal Kait had seen in her years of hunting out in the Wilds. But it was small and skinny, so close to normal. There was a curse as something broke through after it. Kait held her breath and watched him through her blue eyes. The man was bald and had somewhat scrawny legs and big muscular arms, a dirty stained T-shirt and torn grey cargos. He had hatchet in one hand, and a handgun in the other. She wasn't close enough to tell from her position under the rock. She crawled backwards more. If he saw her, she was dead. Over. History. Shifting once again Kait felt her pulse hammering. He had the tattoo of a spearhead and cricket on his left shoulder, once part of one of the northern villagers. He stalked off, back through the brush. Kait waited a few minutes then crawled out. She got to her knees that was it.

He cackled, "Well, well, well. What do we have here? A little princess for Johnny." He laughed loudly. "Well how bout' this. I'm gonna carve you up and eat you alive." He had an accent, somewhat southern, Kait jumped up to her feet and narrowed her eyebrows.

Kait tossed her backpack to the ground. "Let's dance." She charged at him, ducking as he swung his ax at her, and pushed off into his chest, he grunted and stumbled back a few steps.

"Well, don't we have a feisty one. " He laughed, and twirled his weapon through the air. And lunged, he was slow, and Kait found herself repeatedly dodging his attacks, and often inflicting a few punches and slashes to his legs. He would only smile wider and taunt her, as if the pain didn't hurt him at all. Kait brought her machete back over her shoulder, readying for the next blow. And when she swung he dodged left and brought his axe down, breaking half of it off. _Like the Speaker did to Mom's. _He kicked her to the ground and drew his knife.

"Let's give you a smile, darlin'." He drew a knife and hovered it over her mouth the tip slowly going to a corner of her mouth. Kait turned to the side violently, she felt something graze her temple, well, not graze—tear. Something warm began to gush from the wound as she rolled and stood up, she felt the stinging pain from just above her eyebrow and down across to her temple. Blood trailed down her cheek and dripped onto her shirt. Kait watched him stand up and turnaround, she picked up the machete once again, hunched over and panting. She glared at him. And watched as he raised his axe over his head.

She brought her machete into his gut, and watched him go rigid. The axe clattered behind him, and he fell to his knees, staring at her. Kait brought the machete back over her shoulder and swung down and up, bringing the serrated edge up under his lower jaw, right under the ear. He was still alive, so she crouched down, and grabbed his face.

"I'm not your fucking little princess." She hissed. And replaced the blade, this time between his eyes. There was blood on her button up shirt and tank top. She felt no guilt for killing the Shattered. They were already killers, and she was just doing him a favor. She grabbed his handgun from the place he had tucked it on his belt. It was a 45 acp, pretty, but deadly. She cocked it and grabbed her bag from where she had thrown it before the fight.

Her father came up in her memories. Along with a lessen he had told her, the one time they had been hunting and encountered a Shattered.

"Endure and survive."

…

In this chapter I was going to explain the Mutts and Shattered more, but I needed to save it for the next one. And thank ya'll for reading this, sorry if it's a bit cringey at parts, and like I said I'll go more into detail about some of the creatures and such later on. And the last line I actually got from a video game called the Last of Us, thought it would match the theme.


	5. Chapter 5

I think i'm only going to do a few more chapters then end the fanfic. May even post another one from Reyna's view. Who knows? anywhoo hope you enjoy!

3 days later. . .

Marcus pushed his way through the waist high brush and looked at the house ahead of him. It was old and abandoned. The front door hung one its hinges, the windows were broken and wooden boards were missing. He walked across the worn dirt path that separated him from the porch. The stairs creaked loudly under his feet as he gradually climbed them. He double checked his ammo, he had barely any rounds left. The animals he encountered ate bullets like they ate humans that they had killed. He walked into the house, two steps.

Glass crunched under his boots, and he peered through a doorway on his left into what must've been a kitchen. A dead body lying limp on the table, blood sprayed on the walls and a deep gash was in his neck. Marcus glanced back around. If the place had any rustic charm before it was gone. The gray walls covered with peeling paint. Dusty floors where patches of thick rugs used to lie, the giant central fireplace just howled, like a giant black mouth ready to suck him in. Turning back he looked directly ahead of him. A staircase led directly upstairs, the landing split off two ways, and at the bottom of the stairs was a corpse, one of its arms missing and on that landing a body was also there, a giant nail through the victim's head, nailing it to the wall. Marcus walked up and squatted in front of the body, inspecting it.

Recent kill.

Then he heard the off tune of a guitar and paused.

…

Kait turned one of the pegs when the note came out wrong and moved her hand back to the strings, dragging a thumb roughly down the old chords. She breathed in deeply and held her hand out in front of her. The knuckles had been scraped raw of their skin and thin cuts were on her fingers and the back of her hand. She uncurled the fingers from the fist she had them in.

They shook. Kait curled them back into a ball and lowered them again. She strummed the strings again and watched the muscles in her bare forearm move under the bruised, cut, and tan skin. The plaid shirt was covered in blood stains, hardly leaving any room for the original colors it was once was. The gray tank top could tell the same story. Her dark blue jeans were ripped at the knees and the black and white converse she was wearing had red stains on the white rubber trimming and laces.

She let out a long shaky breath and started the rhythm of music against the old guitar. She glanced down at the dead man lying at her feet, a knife stuck through his ear. She looked away for a brief moment, out the window, trying to pretend she wasn't here. She repositioned herself on the bed, propping one foot against the wooden frame. A thick streak of maroon ruined the white sheets from where the body had slid down slowly after he had died.

Kait leaned her head forward, the same stubborn lock of dark hair falling in front of her eyes from the bun she had tied tightly at the base of her skull. She opened her mouth, almost starting to sing the song she had heard in her nightmare a few days ago, but instead started the song her father always hummed when he had been hunting or working.

She drew her eyebrows together and felt the scab that had stated to heal the cut on her head break open and hot and sticky blood dripped down her cheek, almost like a bloody shakily she started, her voice somewhat hoarse.

"…_Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again . . . because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping . . . and the vision that was planted in my brain still remains…within the sound of silence_ . . ."

…

He made sure the Lancer was loaded and started up the stairs to his right, the left led down to a series of closed doors and closets. As he climbed the stairs he saw streaks of blood on walls, on the floor. Light flooded in through open doors. Natural light, sunlight. He paused in a doorway, looked in a kept walking when he saw the body in the bathtub.

"_… __In restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone . . . 'Neath the halo of a street lamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp . . . when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light that split the night. . . And touched the sound of silence."_.

"_And in the naked light I saw ten thousand people, maybe more . . . people talking without speaking, people hearing without listening . . . people writing songs that voices never share and no one dare disturbed the sound of silence . . . 'Fools,' said I, 'you do not know,' silence, like a cancer, grows . . . hear my words that I might teach you, take my arms that I might reach you . . . but my words, like silent raindrops fell, and echoed in the wells, of silence . . . and the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made, and the sign out its warning in the words that it was forming . . . and the sign said, ' the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and in tenement halls. . ."_

The last line was drawn out with a lower pitch.

"_And whispered in the sound . . . of silence . . ."_

The guitar stopped being strummed and there was the sound of a breath being released. Marcus leaned his Lancer against the wall and stood in the doorway. Kait was sitting on the edge of her bed, a dead body at her feet and her clothes were all bloodstained, her knuckles and elbows were raw and she had a long cut on the top of her face. It was bleeding.

"What are you doin' kid?"

Kait looked away for a brief moment, towards the half-open window that had vines crawling over the sill and stretching out across the wall. And they she looked down at the guitar in her hands, it shook in her struggling grip. She looked tired, dark bags under her eyes and overall she looked lost. Maybe the grief of her now-dead mother, uncle, and friends came crashing back. Or maybe she was trying to think of words to say to him.

"Fine," he said quietly, ". . . can you at least tell me why there are dead _people_ in this house?" She actually looked at him, _glared_ at him, her eyes seemed to have gotten somewhat lighter, or maybe that was the light from outside enhancing the color.

"_They_ are not _people_." Her voice was cold and somewhat raspy. "They _murder_ anyone. Children, women, men-all of 'em. And they try to kill me . . . so I kill them first." Marcus let that sink in. There were only so many humans left _alive_ on Sera, let alone many were dying in the process of the Locust resurrecting.

"Then what are they?"

"Shattered. The Shattered. People so inhumane that their own villages kicked them out from the fear that they would bring the worst. They are worse than your Stranded." She paused, "they hurt people, murder, torture, and God knows what else, they are psychopaths, they are something _else_. Like monsters in a human's body. They eat them, raw sometimes, they are _monsters,_ they are _Shattered._" Marcus nodded slowly, the pieces fitting together.

"And the monsters?"

"Mutts." Kait corrected him, looking down at her raw knuckles, "Mutations. There was a lab, few decades back, researched regular animals, and some idiot—or genius, depends on how you see it—started mutating their DNA, making them several things. The Horned Elephants you saw, are a mixture between rhinos, elephants, some sort of fish and God knows what else. The cat-thing, I don't even know what it's made of, let alone the rest of these creatures, all I know is their names and the rough estimate of how many are out there. But it was a mistake, they killed all of the scientists and whatever remains roams around out here."

"Alright then, how many?"

"About fifty, most of the animals died off or can't reproduce because their alone in their species. Many can't even reproduce because they're so jacked up. But, as dangerous as they are, they don't deserve the same fate as the Swarm. They just…don't" Kait trailed off, Marcus understood. _They're all she's got left of her home, if not those kids should we find them. Damn, she _cares_ for the things. __**"**_There are some though, that aren't mutated, like Chuzz, they just are there,native species, and they're the ones that aren't mutated, just _different_ from your average horse or deer or lion."

"I understand. Alright, is there something we can use from this house, any more weaponized bats you can make?" Kait shook her head.

"But there's a supply stash." She had a faint smile. "Full of everything your full-of-love heart desires."

…

Kait heaved at the metal rod and watched with satisfaction as the hatch swung up, they were in one of the old storage rooms downstairs. Peering into the square of darkness, where only a few rungs were visible. Kait clambered down, flipping the switch.

Marcus blinked, and raised an eyebrow.

In very neat rows was loads of COG supplies. Guns, ammo, explosives, rations, and other things her father had put down here before he died. Marcus went over to one of the ammo crates and started reloading, Kait pulled out the handgun she had gotten from the first Shattered she had killed out here and emptied her bag's contents on the floor. Discarding everything that wasn't of use. Which was literally everything, she found put a few small boxes of ammo for the 45 acp in the bag along with her canteen, which she filled up at the sink in the corner. Kait left the stuff there and searched the rows for medical supplies. They were, however, not with the rest of the stuff, but rather on a small shelf in the back, right next to a door that said.

**Gabriel's Stuff**

Kait reached for the medical and paused. What did her dad have in there? Research, books, a way to kill the Swarm? Kait looked over her shoulder at Marcus, who was now digging through an old plastic case under a heap of blankets. Kait opened the door and flipped on the lights. Her breath stalling. It was a small office. A single desk had been pushed aside to make room for a case in the middle. Her father's armor it was still clean and shiny, save for the dents and scrapes on the metal from the two wars he had served in. Kait looked around, to her right was a bookshelf pushed up close to the wall. She looked at the shelves. Nothing but cobwebs and dust.

She remembered being here once, a long time ago. She was probably five or six. And staying in her room while her father and uncle moved stuff down here. Kait walked to the side of the shelf and looked at what had been carved into the wood. G&O. Gabriel and Oscar. She placed her hand over it and let herself leaned into it, the bookshelf slid with ease on the wooden floor. Kait saw a mar in the wall and pulled it away. So her father was hiding something in there. She ripped the wall away and saw a smooth plank of wood in the way. No, more of a box. She curled her fingernails on the edges and tugged it out. Kait lowered the box to the floor gently, and opened it.

She paused and stared at its contents. A picture lay on top, her father, her mother, her uncle, and . . . . Kait. She was young in the photo, about seven, and smiling, on her father's back, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, her mother had an arm around his waist and Oscar leaned in, grinning. Kait picked it up and felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. She set it down and looked at what else he had stashed away. A bundle of some sort of deer hide was wrapped around something long and lean. She pulled it out and let the sheath fall way.

A bow. Her father had made those a lot in his free time. Kait remembered sitting on a work bench cross-legged and watching him carve the wood into a slender bow. She pulled it out and admired it, he was so good at making them, and it was like an art. Precise and detailed. She set in down and took out the last photo. It was recent, too recent. Which meant one thing. Oscar had been here a few months ago. It was another photo. Kait and Reyna leaned into each other. She looked the same, she was even wearing her red beanie in the photo. Kait picked the photos up, then the bow, closing the door behind her, Marcus was sitting on a crate, fiddling with something. Kait went back to her bag after grabbing medical supplies and shoved a small bottle of rubbing alcohol, and medical tape into the small pouch on the front of the back, tucking the photos in a small alcove by the supplies.

She found a rack on the wall and took several arrows from it, tucking them into a small space between the zippers she had made. She had about two dozen. Grabbing the bow she walked back over to marcus and sat down. He handed her something small and round and silver.

"Earpiece." He grunted. " Should we get split up again." Kait took it and tucked it in her ear.

"Is this a new version?"

"Yeah, they work better and don't have to wrap around your ear, stay in better though." He finished grabbing his Lancer. "Find something?" He nodded towards the door. Kait smiled weakly.

"My father's bow, armor, and pictures." Kait said softly. Then she stood up. "we got a way outta here?"

"Walking." Marcus offered. "I let the horses go." Kait nodded, Riftworm was only a days trip away.

"Then let's go."

. . .

Kait stared up at the huge ribs towering hundreds of feet above her, the village lay towards the end of it by the mountains, but she could feel a bit of relaxation settling in as she walked forward. The air was crisp and cool this evening, and a steady breeze floated through every now and walked between two of the ribs and heard Marcus's footsteps stall.

"What's wrong?' She asked turning to him.

"I really don't have fond memories of this thing." He looked at the head a bit of a way off. "I don't want to be walking through its stomach again."

"Ooh, story time." Kait said, her mood had lightened ever since they had left the woods. They only encountered a pair of wolves. The not-Mutated-but-still-not-normal kind. They were big and scruffy, there paws able to grip like a humans and their heads were more shark-shaped and the tongue was longer that it should've been. They had yellowish fur and bony knobs that ran along their spines, maybe the actual spine and their eyes were straight black. Not to mention the weird stingers on the back of their ankles on the front legs. Kait had simply drawn an arrow and shot them both between the eyes before Marcus could release any shots. There were actually a thriving species. Not an all-alone Mutt that was passing through. Kait remembered the villagers always complaining of how another wolf pack was killing their cattle or hens, and the hunting parties that went out after them.

Marcus told her about the mission to kill the Riftworm as they continued towards the village, and by the time they got to the walls the sun was a thin sliver on the horizon. Kait knocked loudly. The doors swung open and many villagers pointed guns at them. Kait smiled.

"Um, hello?" She furrowed her brow. "Do you not know who I am?" They exchanged glances amongst one another and then an older woman stepped up, tugging the cowl scarf she had on under her chin.

"We know . . . Kait?"

Kait nodded and watched the lady turn around. She beckoned for them to follow her. "There are people waiting for you."

. . .

Kait watched Mackenzie and Eli dance around on the old wooden floor, amidst the crowd of villagers. White lights had been strung through the old barn. And even wrapped around wooden columns. In the corner, by a massive fireplace, an old woman was telling a story to a gathering of children. Kait leaned against the bar top in the corner of the room. Earlier, she had been escorted to a small house where the twins had been staying and chose a spare room upstairs, Marcus had done the same. Kait scrubbed the blood stains out of her clothes with old soap in the sink, and let them dry while she attempted to sleep. She got two hours. _Two fucking hours_, and then she had woken up, crying, from nightmares. And now she stood here at the smooth wooden bar, in her now-clean clothes, no bloodstains on the tank top or the unbuttoned plaid shirt, or her ripped jeans. The only thing that hinted she had been fighting were the bloodstains on her Converse and the thin cut on her forehead starting from just above the middle of the eyebrow and down to the temple. She had managed to clean it up. And now it had a thin scab protecting it while it healed. While she waited for her drink she redid the bun, and for once, that stubborn lock of hair didn't fall into her face. She felt a tap on the shoulder and turned.

"Here ya go, miss." The elderly man handed her a glass of whiskey, Kait sipped and saw Mackenzie and Eli start laughing at something a lady was telling them. She stared off into the distance, wondering how she was going to tell them their whole village was gone, that there whole life would never be the same again. Marcus still hadn't showed up, probably sleeping in the room away from all the others. Save for the fact that there was a room in use next to the veteran's, Kait didn't know who it belonged to. Maybe it was one of the rooms the twins had been using before and decided not to use out of the blue.

Mackenzie twirled. Her braid coming off her left shoulder. When she stopped spinning she pulled it back over and grinned at Eli, who was pretending to do the same. Kait felt someone slide up beside her, hoping to turn and see JD or Del standing there, those lovable goofs could lighten any mood, even if it was already bright . But it wasn't, in fact Kait found herself staring directly into the asshole who's face she had beat up badly.

Miguel.

He looked fine now, hell!-it had been years since she last saw him. He had left with his mother and sister after the "incident", she was surprised he'd be here and even more surprised he'd come up to her. Kait sipped again, glaring at him over the rim of her glass.

"Kait, oh sorry," He scrunched up his eyes and then opened them, thinking, " I forgot it was-um, what?"

"Don't. Say. It." She hissed slowly. Miguel only smirked. He had gotten a bit taller and way more muscular since the fight all those years ago.

"What are you gonna do? Hurt me?" And then he laughed. Kait raised an eyebrow. She could definitely do that. In fact she wanted to punch the shit out of him, every time he breathed. But she stopped herself. She would only do what she had done at fifteen, six years ago. And she wasn't going to give herself that _name_, she definitely wasn't going to be like him.

_He's testing me, if I get upset he'll only keep probing the wound._ And without Oscar to pull her out of the fight, she would definitely lose control. Kait had wondered for a long while why she was so short-tempered at times. Was it in her blood? No, it wasn't because Mom didn't do that, she didn't hurt people, neither did dad. But what about her grandmother? Had she hurt people? Kait pushed the thoughts away and rose to full height, coming level with eyebrows. He was twice her size, but then again, she killed fucking _monsters_, what could Miguel do to her?

"Don't. Say. It."

". . ._Beastie." _Miguel grinned. "What ya gonna do, Beastie? Hurt me, act like the monster you are?" People were looking now, watching, waiting. Kait felt the anger boiling up, the monster was about to come out. At least that's what Mom had always said. But instead, she relaxed and sipped again.

"And um- why would I waste a fight on a loud-mouth pretty boy who spends all of his time fixing his face?" Kait challenged. Someone cat-called. The man at the table nearby smiled.

"What ya gonna do about that, Miguel?"

Miguel only smiled and turned to Kait, lowering his voice. "How bout I tear limb from limb, eh? Roll your head around the remains of the Riftworm, maybe that outta teach you some manners." He growled.

Kait doubled over laughing, the stood up and made a suddenly worried face. "You might mess up your makeup." People roared with laughter.

Miguel laughed lightly than reached for her throat, fingers wrapping around it tightly. Kait—in one smooth move—reached under his arm, slipped her palm on the back of his neck and slammed his head through the table in front of him, and she stepped back. He stood up, enraged. Grabbing a sword off of a mount on the wall he started to swing at her. Kait dodged to the side, hooked her arm around the blade, spun around, knocking it to the ground with a clang. She curled her fingers back and palmed his face before following it with a switch-kick that sent him flying back into a nearby column, breaking a few of the little white bulbs. Kait walked forwards to the sword as Miguel sat up and wiped blood from his nose. Hooking the tip of her converse under the hilt she brought her knee to chest level, bringing the blade airborne, turned as it began to fall and side kicked the knob on the end of the hilt. It sailed through the air, going straight through the wooden column by Miguel's head. His face paled and he turned to look at her, the blades mere inches from his cheek. Kait glared at him.

"I am not a _monster_." And then she turned for the benefit of the room. "But there are monsters out there. We call them Swarm, decedents of the Locust … they attacked my village killing everyone except me and a few others and if you don't prepare they'll do the same here." The room went dead silent.

"How do we know you're not lying? This isn't some joke?" Someone called out. Kait slid her gaze over the twins and regretted it, she should have told them sooner.

"Why don't you go look at Fort Umson yourself, see what remains of it, what remains the monsters, that killed the village along with mother, have left you." Kait challenged. The room was dead quiet again, no one moved. Then from the corner at the far end of the bar, not illuminated by the tiny white lights, he strode over. Kait watched the man push through the crowd and dropped the glass she was holding when she saw his face.

"Oscar?!"

Kait walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, he gave her an awkward hug back. And when stepped away she saw his arm was in some kind of sling. "Hey young one." He whispered. "Is it true?"

"Yeah it is . . . sorr—"

Marcus cut in on the earpiece, "-Kait."

Then sirens began to wail.


	6. Chapter 6

Kait knew what had arrived.

She lunged forward, away from Oscar, grabbed a wrist from each twin and dragged them closer. "Listen, these things, they will kill you to get you. Understand?" They nodded. Then she turned to her uncle. "Hide them, in one of the bunkers, south of the village, go!" He beckoned for the children to follow him, and they disappeared around the back of the bar top.

"Kait, Swarm is breaking through the East gate, won't be long before they make it through. Tell those who can fight to grab guns and barricade the village."

"Got it." She then repeated the message for all to hear. Miguel stood, glared at her and then walked to the group of people that had gathered at the door. Good, Kait jogged over to them and threw open the doors, closed them behind her and shouted for them to lock it.

"So these monsters, how do we kill them?" Someone asked.

"Easy. You shoot them till they drop down dead or explode." Kait replied. Her shoes crunched on the dirt and they heard screaming close by followed by deafening gunfire. Kait told them to go on without her and ran to the house she had been sharing with the twins. Her Lancer was still leaned against the bed-frame, after grabbing it she put on her black backpack, checked the arrows were still there, and grabbed the bow, slinging over one of her shoulders.

The East Gate was a dozen logs lashed together with thick ropes and tar, about as wide as a horse and thirty feet in height. Kait heard yelping on the other side, Marcus was towards her far right. They made eye contact, nodded, and aimed their guns at the wall. "The small ones—Juvies—fast as hell, but they go down easier than the others. Drones, somewhat human-sized, not as easy, but still easier than the other creatures. When you see the big glowing ones, run and shoot." Kait saw the wood splinter, and shards fly.

The Juvies dove through the whole, yelping and charging. Then the drones came through, roaring. Many of them fell at once as the villagers unleashed on the monsters. Kait saw more come in to replace them.

She took aim, and fired.

…

Baird rubbed his forehead with annoyance. He _should've _found them by now. He at least had wanted to find them before Jinn did, and she no doubt had bots out there looking for the two runaways. He saw Sam in the corner, sitting in front of a screen, watching closely, JD and Del each looking over one of her shoulders, interested. Either the news or the footage he had shown Marcus and Kait in the beginning of this mess. He had been waiting on a call from Jinn all afternoon.

"Damon, you are receiving a message from the First Minister, would you like me to display?" I.R.I.S. said loudly, the three other people looked over from what they had been watching and listened as he accepted. Jinn's face appeared in the holograph, she was composed, ordered, as she stared at him.

"Damon, any luck tracking our friends?" The First Minister eyed him suspiciously, he shook his head.

And for once, he had nothing sarcastic to say back.

….

Kait saw Marcus duck behind cover as everyone struggled to hold off the monsters. They didn't have to ammo for this. She was on her last clip, it wouldn't last long. Marcus held his fingers to his ear and said something, but it didn't go through to her. Kait didn't have time to figure it out, she drew her dagger, handmade from her village, and knifed the next Drone. Kait saw the woman with the cowl scarf jog up to her, and looked at her dead on.

"The children are in the Great Hall. Barricaded." Kait shook her head. No, no, no.

"Here take this." She shoved the handgun she had gotten off the first Shattered man she had killed, into the woman's hands. And took off in the direction of the Hall. She remembered telling William he would be safe, listening the words fall from her lying mouth. And they had all died. She dodged around a workshop and came to the looming building up ahead.

Kait walked forward and stood in front of the giant doors. Villagers had apparently followed her, Miguel was on her right, the blood from his nose had dried and he no longer looked like the cocky asshole she knew him for.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled aiming a beat-up Enforcer across the wide open space ahead of them, the main gate a few dozen meters ahead.

A Snatcher crawled up over the top and roared, its tentacle like tongues spilling out of its mouth. Then it jumped down crawling towards them. Kait aimed down the sight. And squeezed the trigger.

….

Static came over the hidden speakers above his head. Baird looked up, then at Jinn.

". . . _Baird . . . you copy? . . . we're being attacked . . . village . . ." _Jinn was silent, Baird smiled.

"I.R.I.S. pull up coordinates and deploy a Condor to the site." The AI acknowledged him and Baird looked at First Minister. "Actually I have found something."

…

Kait ducked as the quills soared over her head. The Pouncer leaped up and then crashed down on one of the wagons, crushing the top. She heard someone cry out in pain as one of the projectiles hit their mark. She was running low on ammo, so was everybody else by the looks of it.

"Kait! . . . Kait! . . . You read?" The voice was layered in static, but she recognized Baird's voice right away.

"Yes! But I'm a _bit_ busy at the moment, please leave a message after the fuck-off. Fuck-off." Kait shouted, rolling as the Pouncer jumped towards her.

"Good, I'm sending a Condo-"

Static.

"Baird? Baird?!" She kept pressing her finger to her ear but it was pointless, the connection was screwed. And the amount of Swarm was growing by the second. "We need more ammo! I know you have a supply cache."

"Inside the Main Hall, it's the most heavily fortified building here . . . wait a minute—oh shit! Everyone in the Main Hall. NOW!" People were falling back, but away from the door and towards the back of the massive structure. The building had been built into part of the mountain, at least the back had. "Through the service tunnels, don't let them inside!" Several statements of understanding followed the voice. Must've been the leader. People stepped up and moved apart thick brush, revealing a metal door. It slid open when they thumbed a hidden control panel.

People rushed in once the doors were open, their leader, and older man holding a Gnasher spoke up, "Get to the children and women, protect them and when I give the order you get them the hell out of here. To the North Ridge and you don't stop." Kait waited for everyone to go, but she could here gunfire off by a cluster of buildings.

Marcus. The old bastard was still out there, along with everyone else that had been left. Kait took off, shouting over her shoulder for them to keep the door open.

She had been right, Marcus and about five others were firing at a group of Drones and a Scion. Kait ducked behind cover. Five bullets left. She yelled for them to fall back to the Main Hall. They obeyed, surprisingly, Outsiders were usually the most stubborn types of people out there. Marcus came last, squeezing of a few bursts as he jogged towards the gate to the tunnels.

Kait went in last, sealing the hatch above her, she walked down the short passage, with only the flickering lights above her to guide the way. She met up with the others in a small cavern. Once she entered the room, they were off, climbing down the sloping passage. At the end, it split off, one way leading into the caves, and the other a dead-end.

Well—no.

Just behind an outcropping of rock, a single metal door stood there, it had been painted to blend in with the rock, virtually invisible, unless you stared long enough to notice the handle. She heard muffled roars from down the passage. The Swarm were nearby, and when they found that gate, it would be easy for them to open it, especially with a Scion.

Someone stepped up and pushed down on the edge of the handle gently, trying not to ruin the gritty texture of the paint. They filed in, she went last, again. She did it on purpose, it felt normal, and maybe it was something she had learned from her mother. She found a lot of wisdom in that.

"Kait." Marcus growled from beside her. "I called Baird. Condor should be here in an hour." She re-adjusted her backpack, made sure the bow was still secure on her shoulder. Yeah, she knew he had done that. "The bots'll be a distraction for the Swarm, gotta get these people out of here."

"I know." Kait suppressed a sigh. "I'm out. You?"

"Last clip."

And that was it. The only thing they said, until the stone floor changed to a wooden one, lined with hallways, then it opened up into a ginormous space, a massive fireplace taking one of the walls. People huddled close together. If Kait remembered correctly, the Mai Hall was built in layers, the thickest one being the one around her.

She leaned her Lancer against the wall and stood off in the corner, she took her bow off from her shoulders and knocked an arrow. Studying it intensely. Then her eyes shifted to her raw knuckles, and cur hands and forearms. The upper arms hidden under her plaid button-up. She looked down at the rest of her clothing. Clean. Clean-ish anyway. She tucked her stubborn lock of hair behind her ear and gingerly touched the long scab on her forehead. Still closed, but ready to split open any second. People began to shift and started going off down a nearby hall, Marcus went off with another group to the supply cache. And Kait stayed behind with a few others. The children, elderly, and women had left first, taking an old passage along the North Ridge.

Kait heard a steady roar coming from down the hallway.

She pushed off the wall, going back down the corridor that led to the mountain tunnels, the door they had come through was closed, but through it, she could hear sounds. Yelps, roars, guttural orders—all from a distance. They had got inside.

She looked behind her, no one had come back. Her Lancer was still leaned against the wall no doubt, and nobody had followed her. If the Swarm got in, they would be up everyone's asses within a matter minutes. Women, children, men, babies, the elderly—dead, in piles.

The stone passage was illuminated by the old lights, and she could hear the monsters getting closer, and closer, and closer.

The drone rounded the corner, and looked at her. Kait watched it holler to the others. She wasn't going to waste arrows on the things, she needed to get them away from the others. It occurred to her then that this was a suicide mission. Either way led to ultimate death. If she led them away they would eventually catch her and kill her. If she had not gotten their attention they would have murdered everyone.

She threw her free arm in the air and gave the monsters the finger, then took off down the passage, her bow at the ready. The Swarm monsters started to whoop and roar and their feet thudded as they chased her.

The hunt had begun.


	7. Chapter 7

Kait stumbled along the passageway, the dim lights overhead flickered occasionally as she tried to navigate through the tunnels, monsters roared behind her. Kait took a sharp left and was surprised to find herself in a cavern, the gap in the wall on the far side an entrance to a mine. The other gap in the cavern was an exit. She broke off into a sprint the cavern wasn't at all wide, but it felt like a thousand miles, something roared and bullets tore past her.

Kait ran out of the opening and into the cover of the woods. The trees, once full of life, stood silently under the cold gaze of the moon. Drones tore after her, Scions loomed ominously and Juvies yelped and screamed. She ran, her bow gripped tightly in her fingers, arrow at the ready. Branches snapped and she could hear the steady swish and crack of brush being plowed. Kait tried to look through the leafy branches for any sign of her location, and when that proved useless she scanned through the trunks and undergrowth for a field, maybe, any semi-open place.

Then it caught her attention. The reflection of the moonlight in the distance on some sort glassy surface.

A lake!

. . .

Baird stood and watched intently at the displayed screens. The cameras under the Condor, the metal bird speeding faster than its "regular" speed. The others had gathered around: Sam, JD, Del, and Cole. The trees the plane had been had been flying over turned into a drop off, hundreds of feet down, into some sort of valley. Off I the distance, mountains loomed ominously, there craggy peaks disappearing into the clouds.

"Damn! Hope Marcus is okay!" Cole said loudly, "and Kait too. Damn!" Baird couldn't judge him. He never openly admitted things like this, but he was worried too.

As the mountains got nearer, all they could do was hope for the best.

…

Kait hugged the space between the shoreline and the tree line. Shouting.

Maybe these villagers hadn't heard the sirens, but when they saw the monsters behind her they either ran or pulled a gun out of nowhere, and started firing. Kait ducked into an alleyway and tried to calm her breathing. She saw many of the Swarm fall. But dread crawled into her stomach when she saw shapes take form on the rise, howling and roaring. Of course they found a way around. Pushing to her feet, she walked into a house. A woman and a child sat huddled in the corner. Kait pointed towards the back door. "Go, don't stop. To the North Ridge." They didn't hesitate, immediately running away.

Many followed the woman, out into the woods, opposite of the fight. Kait saw a Drone sneaking up from behind a man, drew back and released the arrow. The arrow buried into its neck and it toppled with a thud. She didn't have time to see if the man noticed, she just ducked into what appeared to be a makeshift warehouse. Rows upon rows of fishing equipment and weapons on the shelves.

In the back she heard scuffling. Like the sound of a rat on a wooden floor. This was a big rat.

She rounded the corner and immediately on instinct, knocked an arrow, and shot the Drone before it could turn around. Kait pulled the arrow out from between its shoulder blades and started towards the back. She cleared the rooms one by one. The biggest room, an office, was, however, occupied. The Speaker turned and grinned, its lips curling. This one wielded a giant battle axe. And when she shot at it, it brought its arm up suddenly and the arrow glanced off to the right and whistled into the dark.

She backed up, into the hallway, into the main space, the Speaker walking slowly after her. She found a rack of knives and started throwing them rapidly. The first two were at its face, but in the process to block the knives with the axe, the monster exposed the part of its stomach not hidden under a thick chest plate, the third knife—which she had expected to glance off its hide—sunk into the beasts abdomen. It howled in pain and stumbled backwards. She reached for another knife throwing after the other. The Scion had composed itself again, and knocked the knife aside with its hand as though it were a pestering insect.

"Weak!" He growled.

With its free hand, it pulled the knife from its stomach and hurled it at her. Kait tried to dodge it but it grazed her neck, hot blood pouring down it. And another followed right into her thigh, and the third.

Right into her stomach.

Kait hissed in pain and immediately reached down, and pulled the knives out. Probably not the best idea, but she didn't care, not with a giant monster trying to slice her in halves. This would be how she died. Something must've been damaged from the blade that pierced her abdomen. But pain was a far way concept right now, the wounds just bled, and bled.

So she would die of bleeding to death, nice.

Something began to trickle down her face, around the corner of her eyebrow and eye, and down her cheek in streaks. The scab was open once more. The Speaker rounded the corner and laughed, an awful booming laugh.

"Your kind are puny. Your worthless lives mean nothing."

"Then why do you keep killing us then? Obviously you need us to make your army that makes us seem a bit important." Kait called back.

Kait stood up, glaring. She was bleeding from her face, neck, leg and stomach. Bruised all over. And covered in raw spots at the knees, elbows, and knuckles, and scratched everywhere else. It started walking again, slowly, as if it didn't care, Kait reached over her shoulder and drew an arrow from her bag.

The feathered end brushed her fingers as she stared down her arm, the tip of the arrow, right between its eyes, and then shot down, right into the wound she had already made. The arrow disappeared all the way up to the feathers. The Speaker stopped and fell to its knees. Blood dripping from the wound. Kait grabbed more knives and with every step threw one at it, five knives stuck out of it.

It was still breathing and when she crouched over it, it stared at her with those hideous eyes, cursing her quietly. Kait stared back, and started stabbing it violently. Blood sprayed across her clothes. This was considered overkill, but she didn't care, vengeance was very, very powerful.

She sat there, her knees pressed into the space between its arms and side—because she couldn't straddle it fully—planted a hand on its shoulder and hooked her fingers into the gap she had made under its chin, and pulled upwards, rising to her feet at the same time.

…

The Watchers deployed from the belly of the plane, and fell through the trees before hovering through the branches, heading towards the sight. The DeeBee's dropped next, setting a perimeter around the battlefield they viewed through the eyes of the Watchers.

Off to the left, a lake, and to the right. A bloodbath. He spotted villagers fighting the Swarm, some of the people were dead, and the Drones that littered the pebbled shoreline were in the dozens, their brethren—Juvies, joining them.

More people emerged from the trees, Baird felt relief when he saw Marcus emerge. Lancer blazing.

"The old bastard is alive. Woo!" Cole said, throwing a fist in the air. Sam was smiling, JD and Del looked somewhat relived.

"Yeah, man, but where's Kait?" Del asked. They all shrugged, staring at the screens like it was some epic battle scene from a movie.

Then all at once. The Swarm beasts' numbers were dwindling in the dozen. Then five . . . two . . . none. The tree line began to shake and more poured out, no longer just Drones, Juvies and Scions. Now there was everything from the Juvies to Carriers. Baird saw hopelessness flash through the villagers faces. The monsters didn't advance, neither did the people.

"Baird, attack them." Sam hissed. He shook his head, not yet.

Marcus glanced around through the crowd, like he was looking for someone, then shook his head, and returned his gaze to the massing numbers of beasts.

A lot of the building had been destroyed, except one.

A warehouse, which doors were open slightly, Baird saw the shadows move behind it, and thumbed a control to zoom in more.

…

Kait refused to limp out of the building, so she walked out, glaring, like her thigh and stomach were bleeding tremendously, like she didn't look like she was a psycho murderer, and saw the Swarm line about two hundred yards away, they all looked in her direction, she was the only one moving. Scions were considered leaders, but Speakers seemed like gods to the Swarm.

The look on the monsters—mostly Drones and Scions—faces was one of pure fear and astonishment, as she held up the detached head of their commander.

…

"WOO! That bitch _crazy_!"

Baird raised his eyebrows. Kait looked _rough_. Rougher than rough. Her hair wasn't in its usual ponytail-thing, but in a low bun at the base of her skull, she had a cut above her eyebrow, bleeding down her face. One on her neck, and two more wounds that looked inflicted through stabs: one on her leg and the other through her gut. Damn, she was bleeding heavily too.

" . . .shit, she's tough." Sam muttered.

Under the blood sprays, Baird could make out a type of button-up shirt and a black tank top. Blue jeans and Converse. Looked more like a badass hero in their casuals to him.

The she tossed the head a few yards, it tumbled lifelessly, the jaw hinged loosely.

…

A Scion, the most decorated one she could see, bee lined towards her, roaring loudly. None of its soldiers moved after it. It swung some sort of club and Kait . . . did nothing, she didn't feel like doing anything, just bleed out and die. She was tired, she kept hearing things, like hissing and pounding. Maybe even growls and guttural chirps.

The Scion was twenty feet away, all Kait did was stare at the lake, the most peaceful thing in sight. She saw the club raise up and swing down.

Nothing happened.

Well, maybe the giant creatures head that snapped down over half of the Scion above her. That snapped her out of her daze. The beast shook its head violently back and forth, until the half of the Scion that had been hanging out, was sent flying across to the villagers. Kait turned, and saw it chew mechanically while bones snapped in its powerful black maw.

The creature snapped it jaws again and craned its dark blue-plated neck to stare down at her with its, angular, bony, nightmare head. The yellow eyes burned into her as it stared, blood dripping from its mouth onto her face. The beast shifted on its six legs and Kait saw the tail—split into three at the end, each tail ending in a serrated claw—moving subconsciously as it moved in a flicking manner.

Kait felt like she knew this monster. And she realized she did, she had seen it once, only half its gargantuan size and it hadn't killed her. She was only four at the time. Stumbling away from her parents when they were taking a hike through the woods, she remembered tripping and tumbling into a massive den, littered with skeletons of both humans and animals alike, unaware of the eyes watching her from the shadows.

It had seemed confused beforehand. Like it didn't understand why human creatures could be so small. It hovered close to her, and she had just stuck her hands into its nostrils and giggled. The creature reared back and stared at her curious. Kait hadn't seen most of its features besides the nose and part of the mouth, the rest of it obscured by shadows. But she knew now that this was the same one, just bigger. She must've thought it was a dream at the time, because dreams were the only places that monsters didn't kill you. Only in nightmares.

It blinked, then lowered its head, inspecting. Kait reached out, her hand mere inches from its faced, and poked the outside of one of its nostrils. The armored nose twitched. "I remember you." She whispered. It rose to full height. The part of the tail she had cut off with the machete had grown back, like a rejuvenation ability.

Kait saw black spots in her vision, and her hand went instantly to her stomach. She was going to die, bleeding out, just die, like all the other humans.

But the ground trembled, and the Swarm began to advance. The beast roared and leapt over her head, crouching defensively in front of her. She saw spikes push through the thick neck and shoulders, the claw extended to become longer and it hissed loudly. Kait took the bow off from over her head and knocked an arrow. Advancing, the rest of the villagers did the same. Kait saw Marcus, he nodded to her and took aim. Kait saw three Scions coming towards her. They released the war-gas and the Drones around them went crazy. Charging towards her.

Kait saw the monster look between her and a group of Snatcher's crawling towards it.

"Go." She said boldly. And she found herself surprised when it complied.

She had drawn back, staring down the arrow, and the world became blinding white.

…

Baird watched the bombs go off. Dirt and pebbles sprayed across the screen. DeeBee's broke the tree line, talking about suppressing the threat. Clouds of dust billowed upwards, and Baird could make out fires. And past those, monsters and humans alike. Fighting.

The Condor dropped more, blowing up a group of Pouncers and Juvies. Some of the cameras went out at first. Then they all did. And now he was blind.

…

She wasn't aware that she was moving. Her movements shaky and weak. She was just stumbling along, away from the fight. Bleeding heavily. She should've been dead by now, but she wasn't. Kait walked along the shoreline, and another bomb went off close by. Smoke and fire engulfed her and she felt intense heat entomb everything.

Then something cool and icy. Tugging her down into the liquid glass, that made her blood float above her in weird swirling patterns. She was fascinated.

And memories flashed through her mind.

Her mother. Father. Friends. Mutts. Animals. Climbing a cliff. Jumping from it. Swimming in a clear river. Other scenes from her life, happy moments with her family. Kait stared up, at the faint moon through the liquid, then it was red, a blood moon.

Then it was a red butterfly, flying far away.

And softly a woman sang.

_Black feathers, and black wings,_

_Of a lonely death she will sing,_

_She will perch there, standing broken and alone,_

_Grieving for the loss of one of her own,_

A loud boom sounded of in the distance, then faded into screams, matching the melody.

_For there is a monster that lives in her head,_

_Making her do whatever it said,_

_Sinister bird, sinister beauty,_

_Her talons responsible for her undoing,_

_It's been stalking her for years,_

_Because it feeds on her fears,_

_The blood pools in the dust, it does not disappear,_

_Only washed away by the raven's tears,_

She saw black spots in her vision, and a fuzziness settled over her mind.

_The raven's lonely cry echoes through there,_

_The feathers slice through the air,_

_She cannot stay,_

_For the monster inside wants out to come play._

And the world went black.

…

Marcus watched and waited. The dust receded and he saw KR's storming there way, along with a Vulture. The monster that had eaten half of the Scion stared ahead, looking intent as it waded through the shallows of the lake. Marcus saw a KR land and some Lt.—Chutani, is all the name he caught. It was still dark out. The only light came from fires and the moon.

The creature roared and started leaping through the water, eventually swimming. People stared and then all at once, dozens of darts shot into it and hissed, thrashing wildly.

"Detain the monster. It comes back to New Ephyra." Jinn boomed over the radios everywhere. The stomach of the Vulture opened and a wide platform with thick black straps dropped down. It was completely dark until flashlights came on. Another Raven landed and people jumped out. Masks on and scuba suits as the platform lowered and Marcus saw them easily move it below the beast, toss the straps over and when they were done. The creature was lifted up. All six legs tucked neatly under it, and the straps tied it tightly to the thick metal board that held it.

Marcus saw the Vulture disappear over the trees, towards the mountains. And a Kestrel took its place, when its stomach opened, it revealed a claw, this time the aircraft did not turn on the flashlights, all Marcus could see was the metal contraption dip below the surface and come back up with something in its grip.

Marcus was pretty sure it was a body.

…

Sam locked herself in one of the labs in Settlement Four, she had refused to let anyone come with her, and had kicked everyone out of the lab except for a few co-workers that she trusted to an extreme extent. The birds were twenty minutes out so Samantha occupied herself with getting the sterile, white, lab space operational. She turned on machines and organized her tools on a large tray a robotic arm lowered for her. She set up a SAT—Suspended Animation Tank—and waited, her coworkers filed in, all wearing lab coats.

They all waited. Talking quietly to kill time. Then the Kestrel arrived, and Sam was flying down corridors of empty exam rooms and found herself in a square room. The roof opened and a metal claw lowered, then hovered at about three feet off the ground.

Sam had one of the others help her get the body off of the claw and they carried it to the lab. The Tank, about two meters in length had a domed glass lid, beside it, life monitors, temperature gauges, and scanners occupied the space. A rolling table held a jug of sterilizer and an assortment of surgical tools. They carried the body to the tank, Dahlia, an old nurse, thumbed controls and the glass dome lid slid back.

A light blue gel lined the bottom of the Tank, illuminated lightly by a white light underneath. They lowered the body onto it and the dome slid back into place. Holographic controls appeared on the glass and above it. Sam tapped them and dragged icons to certain places. Within minutes they had the body connected to the machines, and Samantha stared intently at the flat line that showed the pulse, the others were quiet.

"Come on . . . I know you're in there." She muttered. Seconds ticked by.

And then . . .

A pulse! It was only a few beats at first and then it grew stronger and powerful. Like the engine-heart of a Vulture.

She was alive.

Sam smiled. A few of the people clapped and started ordering each other around. Get the scalpels! Not until you turn on the transfusers! Asshole!Sam started tapping controls on the holographic interface displayed in front of her.

And for hours, it was nothing but back and forth between the SAT and an operating table that sprouted several metal arms holding lights like a robot octopus. They could've had the machines do it. Sterilize the wounds, stich them up, run vitals, inject anesthetics, plug blood packs into the transfusers. But Sam felt better doing it with her own hands, it felt safer. And finally after a long, long time, it was over. They watched intently as a laser sealed the last cut, on the calf, making a thin white line, a scar that would eventually fade over time. Possibly the next day.

"Hey, Byrne. Jinn requests you do research on the animal."

Sam's hands flew over the controls, it took her several minutes but she found the files. Several descriptions and articles told her why the lab had closed down, about the scientists. And then she found one with the animals. A small picture of the beast in a stasis tank, the one that Niles used for his Sires, or something like it. A short paragraph described it, and then at the end, its name. Skull Jackal. In the few sentences before her, it described that they had intended to use the animals in the Locust war, only to be shut down by the COG and their lab blow up. The animals that survived, were in few numbers.

Sam yawned and watched the vital display and ordered for the holographic interface to turn off, until it was just a steady hum of machines and Sam in the room. The others had gone to get food, and would be back in a few hours. Sam dozed off after a while, only to wake up in the same room, alone.

Well, sort of. Save for the body in the SAT across the room. The blinking lights of machines gave off a faint glow in the dark room, save for the Tank's light blue illumination from where she sat in the corner. Samantha got up and walked over to the Tank, peering through the glass dome lid, her breath fogging the glass.

"Hello, love."

And as though the girl had heard her.

Kait's eyes opened.

…

This is the ending of my first fanfic! Thank ya'll so much for reading it, I really do appreciate that, hope you enjoyed it, I'll probably be posting more soon—hopefully! And yeah, sorry if the name "Skull Jackal" sounds a bit dopey, I honestly could not think of any else at the moment. BTW Oscar and the twins are alive, they made it out and are heading to another village.


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